Washington Army National Guard Practice Exam

In map reading for military navigation, the terrain is described using five major terrain features: hill, valley, saddle, ridge, and depression. A hill is a raised area with higher elevation than the surrounding terrain, typically shown on the map by concentric contour lines that form a knob or peak and tighten as you climb. This helps you gauge elevation changes, line of sight, and approach paths.

Among the options, a river is a water feature and obstacle, not a major terrain feature. A plain is flat land, but it isn’t one of the five standard terrain features used for classification on maps. A mountain is a large elevated mass, but it isn’t listed as one of the five major terrain features in this framework. Therefore, the best choice is hill, since it is one of the defined terrain features used to describe elevation and landform on the map.